One Year After
by cat-fish-pudding
Summary: It's been a year. One year since Frisk freed all the monsters from MT. Ebbott and became Heir and Ambassador to all monsters. In that time, She has made life for the monsters wonderful; They now had lands to farm, all the space they could want, and as much sunlight as they could handle. Life is good. (Originally Posted on Ao3, same name)
1. Flower no More

It's been a year.  
One year since Frisk freed all the monsters from MT. Ebbott and became Heir and Ambassador to all monsters.

In that time, She has made life for the monsters wonderful; They now had lands to farm, all the space they could want, and as much sunlight as they could handle.  
Life is good.

Frisk now lives with her family, usually spending the weeks alternating between Toriel and Asgore, and spending the weekends with the rest.  
(Frisk particularly enjoys the weekends with Undyne and Alphys – They don't make sure that she _always_ eats her vegetables, and they don't always remember that she has a bedtime.)

Once a month, Frisk visits the underground.  
Her family believes it is just to visit the few monsters who stayed, and while that is part of the reason, her main intention is... different.

~Frisk~

I whistled as I walked through the old, dried leaves.  
The ruins were full of them. They crinkled as I tromped through them.  
I waved hello to one of the few monsters left – A whimsun, who sheepishly waved back before darting behind a pillar.  
They knew me, but were still kind of shy.  
They weren't the reason I was here, however.

"Flowey?"  
I called, entering the first room I had ever seen in the underground.  
The ground was still littered with golden flowers, but spiny green vines lay just underneath.  
"Flowey, I know you're here." I called, slipping my backpack off.  
"So the stupid head comes back again, huh?"  
The soulless child said, his golden crown popping up from the bed.  
"i thought I had taught you that lesson _last_ time you were here.."  
He said, smiling mischievously.  
I knew what he was going to do next. It always went this way.

The world went black and white as my SOUL appeared.  
"Really? You sure you want to do this again?" I said. I knew what his answer would be, but I needed for him to be compliant for what I was about to do.  
Flowey winked as he summoned a ring of pellets.  
"Gee, you must be lost!" He said, his face turning into a snarl.  
"Why don't I show you how things work around here?"  
I easily dodged the Friendliness Pellets- Flowey hadn't changed his pattern in months – and quickly spared him.  
He sent another round, and I missed all but one, docking my HP a few points.  
After a few minutes of dodging, Flowey got bored and stopped.  
Like I usually did, I sat down next to him.  
Opening my backpack, I pulled out a couple of chocolate bars.  
I had been hit a couple of times, and the _last_ time I had shown up at home with scratches everyone had freaked out.  
I had thought Undyne was going to kill someone.  
I laid one down for Flowey, and then ate mine.  
Flowey picked his up and ate it, wrapper and all.  
I choked back a snicker.  
"That's not how you're supposed to eat it." I said, laughter spilling out anyway.  
"Shut up. I'll eat it how I feel like." he growled, petals folding back.  
"M'kay." I signed, my mouth now full of dark chocolate.  
"You don't have another flower pot in that bag, do you? Cause if you do, you'll end up six feet under."  
*Suuuuure I will* I signed, winking.  
*But, no. There's no flowerpot. Not this time.  
*I'm uh. I'm trying something else this time.  
"What 'else' exactly?" Flowey asked skeptically.  
I had tried several times to convince Flowey to come to the surface, and he always declined.  
Sometimes I told him jokes, or told him what he was missing up on the surface. About his parents.  
That time... had ended in disaster.  
"I'll show you in a bit, okay?" I said, rubbing a flower beside me. 

We spent the next hour talking.  
Well... mostly _me_ talking, Flowey as usual was offering short non-answers to my questions, and little jabs at anything else.  
"Shouldn't you be leaving soon?" Flowey asked, pointing up the the sky.  
The sun had passed by the gaping hole, steadily plunging the ruins into darkness.  
*...Yeah.  
*I should get going. Just one thing, okay?  
*Close your eyes for me.  
"And why should I? You're just gonna try to put me in some flowerpot your hiding somewhere, bleh.  
I'm _not_ going to the surface. I don't belong there, Frisk."  
*... maybe not. But please? Just this once?  
I asked, holding my folded hands under my chin. "Pleaaaaaseeeee?" I begged, fluttering my eyelashes.  
"... Bleh, fine."  
Flowey begrudgingly closed his eyes, face turned down.  
I summoned my SOUL, causing the world to go black and white again.  
 ***ACT**  
The usual options were there, Flirt, check, and talk, as well as one newer option.  
 ***GIVE**

~?~

"Frisk... what the heck did you do?"  
I picked myself back up off the ground, holding my head.  
Everything felt... different.  
Sunshine was filtering through the hole again, meaning that either a SAVE file had been reloaded, or the night had passed.  
"Frisk?"  
The kid was nowhere to be seen.  
Her knapsack, however, was sitting just a few feet away, a note safety pinned to the front.  
I reached a hand out to grab it, only to stop and gasp.  
My hand wasn't a flower petal – it was a _hand. An actual, fluffy, clawed hand._

"Wha-"  
I looked over the rest of myself – I was Asriel again, not a stupid, sadistic yellow flower.  
"FRISK! FRISK?!" I yelled, standing up.  
I had to immediately sit back down as I felt dizzy.  
I stood up slower, breathing in the sweet scent of the flowers again.  
I picked up Frisk's knapsack – Maybe she had already left?  
I pulled the note off, setting the pin in the bag.  
*Azzy – Just head straight down the mountain.*  
Below that was a drawing of everyone – Mum and Dad, Papyrus, his brother, the doctor and her wife – All sitting in front of a house.  
I was walking down the mountain.  
"Hm."  
At least Frisk had left me a note of where to go; Just leaving still didn't seem like them though.  
I looked around as I heard something rustling.  
I didn't see anything, so I figured it was just a mouse.  
They fell down sometimes. 

I started walking through the Ruins, out to where I knew the exit lay.  
Many of the houses were empty, but some places were still open or inhabited.  
Grillby's and the Temmie village to name a few.

It took me while to get through all the puzzles.  
For starters, walking on two legs was more difficult than sliding around on a ton of vines.  
So figuring it out again was a challenge all its own.

Eventually, I _did_ get out. The sky was high above.  
I'd only seen the sun twice in my life; once when Chara died, and a few days after the barrier had been broken.  
It was as pretty as I remembered it, and my heart swelled in happiness.  
I stared at the trees around me, relishing the fact that I could feel _happy._ Not just anger at everything.  
I picked up my pace, hoping to meet back up with Frisk and my family quickly.

The path down the mountain was long, but I didn't mind.  
Little tiny things Frisk had once described to me as "Birds" flitted around, screaming at me.  
The path flattened out into a courtyard garden, surrounded by high, pale gold walls.

I could hear someone humming, loud and happy.  
I walked towards the sound, past a big delicately carved bush.  
With a gasp, I stopped.  
I rushed forward, not caring that he couldn't see me.  
"DAD!" I bleated, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Woah there!" He said, setting his tools down to pull me off.  
His face went from confused to shocked  
"A...as...riel...?" He stuttered.  
"I... I must have... eaten something bad. Or perhaps... had too much tea..." He said, setting a hand his chin.  
"It's me, Dad! It really, really is me, Asriel!" I said, wiping my face with the back of my hand.  
He hesitated before pulling me close in a bone-crushing hug.  
My shoulder felt wet as his tears trickled down onto it.  
I started sniffling, and was soon full on bawling on my Dad's shoulder.  
After a few minutes, He picked me up, cradling me like I was made of glass.  
"Tori!" He boomed, heading towards a dark gold colored building.  
"Is Fri- _Oh my goodness._ "  
The smile on my face widened as I saw my Mom.

She had just come out of a doorway, holding something, which she had just dropped.  
" _It can not be..."_ She whispered, holding her hands to her face.  
I slipped out of Dad's arms, and rushed over to her.  
She was shaking as I hugged her.  
She bent down, gently wiping one of my tears away.

Pulling me close, she looked up at Dad.  
"Dreemurr... How?"  
Her heart was beating frantically as she checked me over, trying to reassure herself that I was real.  
Tears still running down his face, Dad shrugged. "I'm not sure. I was just out in the garden and Asriel just... came around the corner."  
Mom planted a kiss on my cheek, and picked me up.  
"Frisk still is not back... If you wouldn't mind, could you ask Undyne to go look for her? ...She normally does not stay out this long..." Mom asked, scowling.  
She took me inside, to a quaint little kitchen.  
Setting me down on a chair by the table, she sat down beside me and pulled me into another hug.  
"I have missed you so much my child..." She said quietly as we hugged.  
"So... Frisk isn't here?" I asked after another moment.  
This was really bugging me.  
What _exactly_ had Frisk done?

* * *

 **A/N**

 **(I know I have another fanfic to work on lol/**  
 **That one's just kinda slow goin', bc I don't have as much of an emotional attachment to it I guess :?**  
 **Anywho... I can't add illustrations here, but I can on A03 :V**  
 **So if you wanna see those, It's "One Year After" by Dreaming_Dragons/**

 **Thanks for reading!)**


	2. Home Again

Mom pulled away.

"My child... How do you know of Frisk? Did you pass by her as you were leaving...?"  
She asked.  
"Not... exactly." I said.  
"She-"  
"Toriel? Would it be alright if I came in?" Dad called; I could hear his horns clattering against the door frame.  
"...I suppose so." Mom said, sighing.  
Dad came inside, and sat down beside me.  
"Undyne is sick, so Mettaton has offered to go look. Hopefully he can find her..."  
"Well...You... you were saying, my child?" Mom prodded.  
"Well. I guess I should start back at the beginning? Back after I y'know... died..."

"I'm not really sure about what happened but.. I remember falling down and then the walls of Dr. Alphys lab."  
Mom and Dad looked at one another, scowling.  
"I ended up... as a flower. I didn't have a soul so... I couldn't feel anything. I hated everything." I said, rubbing my hands against each other nervously.  
"And I did... a lot of bad things. I figured out I could change the timeline around. I... ended up...hurting a lot of people. But Frisk – When Frisk came down, she changed a lot of stuff. She found me and wouldn't leave me alone. Even when I threatened her...hurt her... _killed her_... She kept coming back, trying to help me. I... I don't know where she is now. But I wanna help find her."  
I said, staring at the table.  
"you were not... a yellow flower, were you?" Mom asked, looking over at Dad.  
I nodded.  
"A really mean one too." I said.  
I yawned suddenly. I rubbed my eye, realizing just how tired I was.  
"Let's get you washed up, Asriel." Mom said, helping me up.  
"I'll go help look for Frisk." Dad said, standing up.  
He gave me one last hug before leaving the kitchen.  
I heard a hiss from him. We had forgotten about the dish Mom had dropped.

"I am afraid that the only clothes I have that would fit you are Frisk's..." She said, placing a set of duck print pajamas in my hands.  
I went and put them on, surprised to find them a little _too_ big.  
After that, Mom took me to Frisk's room and tucked me in.  
"I suppose... we will have to build a new room.." She said, laughing.  
"After all, I now have _two_ kids." She smiled.  
She kissed my forehead, before lifting the covers up a little more and leaving the room with a quiet 'I love you'.  
I took me a few minutes to fall asleep, and I couldn't help but think of my time as Flowey.  
 _"...guess I should apologize to everyone... they won't remember but..."_

I woke up the next morning with a start.  
Instead of the rough, dirt ceiling of the Ruins, I was greeted with what looked like... water?  
It took me a moment to realize it was a painting of the marsh lands of the underground.  
Oh. Right.  
I was me again.  
I rolled out of bed, walking towards the door, only to stop as I noticed something on the floor.  
My clothes, and a note from Mom.  
* _ **Asriel; in case you wake up before I do, I have left a slice of pie for you in the fridge.  
Love, Mom.***_

I put my striped sweater back on, and opened the door, stopping when I heard voices.  
Mom, Dad and.. someone I had heard before, but couldn't remember the name of.  
"-sign of Frisk _anywhere._ Both Muffet and Grillby said that they saw the darling pass by, but that she didn't come back before they went to bed."  
I walked down the hall to the kitchen; Mom, Dad, and a Fushia-and-black robot sat around the table.  
I went and hopped up on Dad's lap.  
He tousled my hair affectionately.  
"Not even any sign of someone moving through?" Dad asked.  
The robot shook his head.  
"There are a set of foot prints in the snow, but it isn't Frisk."  
"Those... might be mine." I said.  
"Certainly could be.  
Well, Frisk will not find herself. I bid your Majesties adieu." The robot said, standing up and giving a flamboyant bow.  
He got up to leave, and I hopped up just before he was outside.  
"Wait!"  
I called, running up to him.  
He stopped, turning around to meet me.  
"hm? You're Asriel, right?" He asked, crouching down.

"That's me." I said, hugging him.  
"I'm sorry." I said.  
"Darling, for what? I don't think we've ever met before, there's nothing to apologize for." He said, hugging me back.  
"Just... sorry."

He left, and I started to go back inside, only to collide with Dad.  
"Oh, sorry Dad." I said, backing up.  
"It's alright;" He leaned down to look at me. "Would you like to come do some gardening with me?" he asked.  
I nodded.  
Taking my hand, he led me back to the spot I had first shown up at.  
"I'll be right back, there's a tool I need to go grab; In the meantime, could you pull these out?" He asked, pointing to a bunch of tiny little green stalks.  
I nodded again, and started pulling them out.  
Dad left, and didn't come back for a few minutes.  
"Forgot about my trowel." He said after he came back, kneeling down.

It didn't take long for both of us to be covered in dirt.  
Dad quickly had smudges around his eyes, and the ends of my sweater were coated.  
"So... I... assume you are aware of... the situation between your mother and I?" He said after a bit.  
"..Yeah." I whispered.  
It wasn't something that had been made a secret; Mom had left at some point after I died because Dad had declared war on the humans again.  
"She is... warming up to me again, however. She allows me to tend her garden, and on occasion allows me into her home." He smiled as he spoke.  
"I doubt we will _ever_ be what we once were, but perhaps someday we can be friends again."  
He said, turning over some of the soil.  
"...I'm sorry Dad." I mumbled.

"Wha? There's nothing for you to-"  
"If I hadn't followed Chara's plan, I wouldn't have died. If I hadn't died, you and Mom would still be together." I grumbled, pinning my ears back. "And then we'd all be happy together."

"I suppose. It isn't as if we could go back and change time." Dad rumbled, patting some soil down.  
"...yeah."

"so... You mentioned something about... changing the timeline around last night?" Dad asked.  
Oh. Right. I had slipped up and said that.  
"Um. Yeah. I used to have that... ability before Frisk came along. I.. did some bad stuff with it.. like I said." I nervously told him.  
He nodded again.  
"You said you were a flower, right? And while it sounds as if what you did at that time was... _bad,_ you were not completely you. It's not something you would do now, right?" He asked, looking over at me.  
I nodded again. "Never." I said.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Yo!**  
 **LM here; Chapter three probably won't be up until sometime next week, just a heads up :3c**

 **sub-par grief  
Thank you! There will certainly be more, hehe.**


	3. Concern

Mom came outside at around noon.  
"Good Morning, Toriel." Dad said, looking up.  
"Morning, Dreemurr." She said.  
She hesitated before continuing.  
"I have made lunch. Dreemurr, you are.. _welcome_ to join." She said.  
Dad nodded. "Thank you, Toriel."

~Toriel~

As I had expected, lunch was an awkward affair.  
It was clear that Asgore wanted to be friends, but... I was not ready for that yet.  
While I had forgiven him for a few things, his deeds from the past could not be wiped off the slate just yet.  
We finished up, and Asgore left, proclaiming that 'the garden needed a little more work before he was done for the weekend'.  
He had offered to help clean up, but I declined. I could get them done without his help.  
Asriel helped me clean up the dishes, and no sooner than we had finished the last one than there was a knock at the front door.  
Grabbing a towel to dry my hands off, I went and opened the door, hoping, praying, that it was someone with Frisk.  
To my dismay, it was not.  
Still, I smiled at the two young children at the door.  
"Good afternoon Ms. Toriel!" They chimed, tails wagging.  
"Good afternoon, Monster Kid, Good afternoon, Dogi." I replied.  
"Is Frisk home?" Monster Kid asked, bouncing a little.  
Oh dear.  
"I am afraid that.. Frisk can not come out to play today." I said hesitantly.  
Dogi's tail stopped wagging.  
"Aw, is she sick?" she asked, ears drooping.  
I crouched down to look them in the eye.  
"I am afraid that Frisk... went missing yesterday." I said.  
"Yo – What? No way, She wouldn't." Monster Kid said, scowling.  
"I'm afraid she has."  
"Dogi! We gotta go find Frisk, yo!"  
"Ruff! Let's go!" Dogi agreed, her tail wagging again.  
"H-hold on, children! We don't want you all missing as well." I said, reaching out to grab their shirts.  
"Yo! But we have to go find Frisk!"  
"But if you were lost as well, who would play with Dogi? And who would help take care of the class pet?"  
"yo, but-"  
"Trust me children, it would be better if you stayed here." I said.  
"Though... I may have someone who would like to play with you. Would you wait here for a moment?"  
Dogi and Monster Kid nodded.  
I hurried inside, hoping they wouldn't become bored and leave.  
"Asriel?" I called once I was in the kitchen.  
"Mom?"  
"A few friends of Frisk's are outside... Would you like to go play with them?" I asked.  
Asriel looked up at me.  
"I... guess...?" He said.  
"I can finish up the dishes here, dear."  
Asriel handed me the dish towel he had, and hopped down off the stool.  
"They're just out the door here." I said.

He took my hand, and I led him through the halls to the front door.  
To my relief, Dogi and Monster Kid were still there, waiting.  
"Asriel, this is Dogi."  
Dogi's tail started wagging again.  
"Hey there!" She yipped.  
"Yo! I'm Monster Kid!"  
Asriel still seemed hesitant.  
I leaned down beside him, placing my hand on his shoulder.  
"It is alright Asriel. You do not have to play with them."  
"...N-no, I'll go play." He said, stepping outside.  
"If you need me my children, I will be right here."  
"Yes ma'am!" Dogi and Monster Kid chimed, tails wagging again.  
"C'mon Asriel, lets go!" Dogi said as Monster Kid ran off, only to fall flat onto his face.  
"Oh! Are you okay?" Asriel asked, rushing over to help him.  
I smiled as he helped Monster Kid up and the three of them went off.  
Once they were out of sight around a corner, I sighed and headed back to the kitchen.  
I began the dishes again, setting the dish towel across my shoulder.  
What were we to do?  
I would not be able to help after today, as tomorrow I would have to head back to work.  
I could take Asriel with me, but looking for Frisk was out of the question.  
Furrowing my brow, I tried to concentrate on my task.  
We knew Frisk would go on occasion to visit the ruins; I had always assumed it was safe.  
No one would hurt Frisk, not after she had freed us all, but what if she had fallen down somewhere?  
What if she was lying down in a hole somewhere, unable to escape?  
Ignoring the fact that it was wet, I pressed my hand to my forehead.  
"Oh Frisk... where are you?"

~sans~

"hey paps, i'm heading over to tori's for a bit; don't burn the house down, okay?" I said, giving my brother a wink.  
"NOW WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I DO THAT, SANS?" Papyrus asked, indignant.  
"You might see an _im-pasta,_ and try to drive him out of the house."

paps growled. "SANS! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR PUNS! THE HUMAN IS MISSING!"  
"i know paps. Though there's a good chance she'll go _pasta_ here, so keep a look out."  
"SANS!"  
"i know, that was _pastably_ the worst pun ever."  
"SANS! GO TALK TO ASGORE'S CLONE OR SOMETHING!"  
"gotcha bro."  
I left the house, still laughing at my puns.  
toriel was sure to a _dough_ them.  
I started walking towards her house, quickly deciding that taking a shortcut would be much faster.  
I backtracked a little, heading for the nearest one.  
With the usual accompanying flash of light, I went through it and ended up in tori's garden, by a tall bush.  
"C'mon Asriel, we gotta get it before Dogi!"  
someone shouted, coming around the bush.  
They took one step and fell flat on his face.

"Monster Kid, are you okay?" a goat monster asked, coming to help the armless kid up.  
"Yeah dude; I trip _all_ the time, I'm used to it."  
Monster Kid said, accepting the goat's help up.  
"Does that make you a leaf?" I asked.  
The goat kid jumped, noticing me for the first time.  
"sorry kid. Didn't mean to scare you."  
"Why would it make me a leaf?" monster kid asked.  
"Because you _fall_ a lot" I said, winking.  
Monster Kid and Dogi, who had just come around the bush, laughed.  
The goat just looked confused.  
"Get it Asriel? 'Cause leaves fall down?" Dogi said, turning to him.  
"...oh." he said after a moment.  
"s'okay kid. By the way – i'm sans. Sans the skeleton." I held my hand out to 'Asriel', holding it to conceal the whoopie cushion in my hand.  
He shook my hand, looking even more confused when the cushion gave a loud ' _brrrp'_  
MK and dogi laughed.  
"never gets old." I said, smiling a little wider.  
"Yo, mr. sans, have you seen Frisk around? Ms. Toriel said she went missing yesterday."  
"'fraid not mk. I'm gonna go look for her later. I'm sure she'll turn up." I said, shrugging.  
"Yeah, Frisk wouldn't just disappear! She's gotta turn up.' dogi barked.  
"yup."  
Dogi barked suddenly.  
"the ball! We forgot about it, c'mon! Ruff!" she yipped, rushing off.  
The two others followed her, giving their own exclamations.  
I finished the short walk to tori's home, and knocked on the door; three sharp taps in a row.  
I heard dishes clinking, and it was silent for a moment before Tori said "Who is there?"  
"it's sans."  
Toriel opened the door, a thin smile on her face.  
"Good afternoon, Dishes." she said.  
"afternoon old lady'" I replied.  
We both smiled at the old joke.  
"so... how're you holding up?" I asked.  
She sighed. "As well as I can. I am just... so concerned about Frisk. What if she is hurt?" she said, looking down at the ground.  
"well... the kids pretty tough. She managed to get past undyne, so i'm sure she'll be fine." I said.  
I wasn't quite sure if I believed it myself, but it might make tori feel a bit better.  
"I suppose..." she hummed, lacing her fingers together.  
"i'm gonna go look for her; wanna come with?" I asked.  
"I would love to but... I am afraid I must watch my son, Asriel."  
"was he the goat kid playing with dogi and mk?"  
"Yes."  
"I didn't know you had a kid. Other than frisk anyway."  
"Asgore and I had a son. He... died quite sometime ago."  
"then...?"  
"Well... he came back as a flower, somehow. We are... not quite sure. And he just... came back yesterday."  
"So... does that make him your _son_ flower?" I joked, getting another laugh from tori.  
"I suppose it would."  
"well... guess I'll see you around then?"  
"Certainly."  
with a wave and a goodbye, I turned back around to head towards MT. Ebbott, teleporting away once I was out of tori's garden.


	4. Chapter 4

~Asriel~

Before any of us realized it, the sun had gone down.  
"Yo, I gotta head home!" Monster Kid said suddenly, looking up.  
"Me too. Thanks for playing with us Asriel!" Dogi said.  
We waved goodbye as we parted ways.  
Humming, I opened the back door, wiping my feet on the welcome mat.  
"Mom?" I called.  
"Asriel?"  
"I'm here mom." I replied, heading into the kitchen.  
"Did you have fun, my child?" Mom asked.  
"Yeah! They wanna play again tomorrow, too."  
"I'm sure we can arrange that." Mom replied.  
She hesitated before continuing.  
"And... your father lives just down the road. We _would_ simply continue using the schedule we are using with Frisk, but... we figured it would be best to see if you would like to spend at least a night with him before doing so..."  
Her face looked torn.  
It was clear she didn't want me to go over there, but... I did want to see Dad.  
"...I'll spend the night at dad's tonight." I said after a few quiet minutes.  
Mom nodded. She looked sad, but didn't say anything about it.  
"Let me know when you are ready to go." She said.  
I nodded.

We left about fifteen minutes later; Mom had let me know that Frisk had clothes over there as well, so I wouldn't need to take any with me.  
We walked the short path down to Dad's home.  
Mom knocked on the door, and Dad answered after a moment.  
"Oh uh.. Good evening, Toriel." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.  
"I wasn't expecting you to come over, in all honesty..."  
He continued sheepishly.  
"well, Asriel wanted to spend the night with you before we went to the normal schedule." Mom said.  
"Try not to stay up _too_ late, alright my child?" She told me. "You have school in the morning, and I wouldn't want you to be falling asleep halfway through class."  
She planted a kiss on my forehead, and left.  
"Class?"  
I asked, confused.  
"Hm? Oh, did Toriel forget to tell you? She's taking you with her to school tomorrow. I'm surprised she's letting you stay over here tonight."  
He opened the door wider, motioning for me to come inside.  
"Don't want you catching a cold, now do we?" He laughed.  
We went inside, and Dad led me to his dining room.  
"I'll apologize now, I'm really nowhere near as good of a chef as your mother." He said.  
"I uh... mostly just eat easy to make things..."  
"That's okay. I haven't eaten anything but dirt and chocolate in a while."  
"Dirt? That doesn't sound good."  
"As a flower, it was okay. Mostly because I didn't really eat it as much as...drink...it?"  
"I suppose flowers don't eat."  
A timer dinged, and Dad darted into the kitchen.  
He came back a moment later, holding a pan.  
"I... tried to make a quiche? It... looks like it held together..." he said, setting it on the table.

Dinner was awkward. Neither of us really knew what to say.  
"So...have you seen any movies recently?" He asked.  
"... I haven't seen a movie ever dad." I told him.  
"Ah, right..."  
We finished dinner up, and we took care of the dishes.

"Well... normally Frisk and I would watch a half a movie before bed... Is that something you would like to do?" He asked.  
"Sure."  
"You go get your pajamas on, and I'll start it up."  
I started to turn away, before realizing that I didn't know where anything was.  
"Dad? Where's Frisk's room?"  
"Oh! Right; It's the first bedroom on your right. The one on the left is mine."  
He said, pointing down the hall from the kitchen.

I headed down to Frisk's room.  
I pulled out the first set of pajamas that weren't duck print, and put them on.  
I went back to the kitchen, and then headed into the room next to it.  
"I think I figured it out..." Dad said, motioning towards the couch.  
I flopped down on it as he pressed one more button.  
The t.v screen lit up, casting a blue light over the darkened room.  
Dad picked me up and set me on his lap.  
"This is one of Frisk's favorites. Mine as well."  
He said as it started up.

"Why doesn't she fall off? A broom doesn't seem like a safe ride."  
I asked.  
"well... it's magic." Dad shrugged.  
"I don't think... there really _is_ an explanation. Anyhow... We should be getting to bed. We can watch the rest next week, perhaps?"  
Before I could answer, a yawn escaped my mouth.

Dad smiled.  
"I suppose that answers my question." He said.  
He shut the t.v off, and scooped me back up.  
"Lets go tuck you in." He said, nuzzling me.  
He toted me off to Frisk's room, and set me on her bed.  
"Sleep well, my son."

 _"chara... we're gonna be there soon, huh?  
One last thing together..."  
I laid my siblings body down onto the carpet of golden flowers, trying to keep myself from crying.  
I jerked my head back up as I heard a shout.  
"LINDA, GET YOUR SWORD!" Someone else screamed, and I stood up.  
"Good god, what the hell is that thing?"  
My ears flicked back.  
What was I doing wrong? I was just giving one last gift to my sibling.  
"h...hello?" I called.  
My voice came out deep, almost like a snarl. Not what I had intended.  
"Go tell the chief that we've got one of those bastards down here! Let him know it killed some kid!"  
I... what? I hadn't killed anyo- oh no.  
They though I had killed Chara.  
"This is a misunderstanding, I'm afraid." I said, stepping forward.  
The newly amassed crowd of people all stepped back.  
"S-stay back, m-monster!" A young boy shouted, shaking enough that the bucket on his head fell off.  
He squeaked, and dove back into the crowd.  
"Please; I don't want to hurt any of you! My... my sibling got sick, they... they died. I was fulfilling their last wish."  
I took one more step forward, my arms outstretched.  
"Pl-" My voice caught in my throat as someone threw a spear.  
It caught me in the chest, staining my robe with sticky blood.  
"Kill the beast!" Someone roared.  
I sank down to my knees, tears welling in my eyes.  
This wasn't what I had wanted.  
I had just wanted to make Chara happy._

I woke up with a scream, falling off the bed.  
I struggled against the blankets, trying and failing to breathe.  
I heard a _thump_ and loud foot falls before the door flew open.  
The blankets were torn off of me, and someone picked me up, crushing me to their chest.  
"Shh...shhshh it's okay frisk... it's all okay... it's all okay."  
I hugged the person back, trying to calm down.  
They carried me across the hall, and settled down in a bed, still holding me close.

I woke up a few hours later, wrapped up in a few layers of blankets.  
This... was not the room I had fallen asleep in.  
I wriggled out of the blanket cocoon, sitting down on top of the huge bed.  
"Dad?" I called, hopping off.  
The floor was cold.  
I was tempted to curl back under the baking hot sheets, but I wanted to know where dad was.  
"Daaaaad?" I called again, leaving the room.  
Heard someone humming, I followed it back out to the kitchen.  
"Dad?"  
The humming stopped as I headed into the kitchen.

"Good morning Asriel."  
Dad said.  
He had a spatula in one hand, and he was wearing an apron.  
"Would you like some breakfast? I'm well... _trying_ to make pancakes." He rumbled, sheepishly laughing.  
"Yes please." I said, sitting down at the table.  
Setting his spatula down, Dad pulled another plate out of a cabinet.  
He set it in front of me before going back to bring me a fork.  
It wasn't long before the two of us had heaping stacks of slightly burnt cakes on our plates.  
"Hey dad? Why was I in your bed this morning?" I asked after we had both eaten a few.  
"Hm? I heard you screaming, so I figured something had scared you."  
Oh. Right.  
"...you called me Frisk last night."  
"Did I? I suppose I'm used to Frisk having nightmares..."  
Frisk had nightmares? She'd never told me.

"Are you alright with wearing Frisk's clothes for now? I think your mother is working on making you a new sweater, but that won't be done until later."  
I nodded.  
"Anything you need to know about school?"  
"Uhm... no."  
I knew Mom was going to be there, so I knew if I had any questions today I could just ask her.  
"Lets go get ready then."

* * *

 **A/N here:  
** Aww heck I totally didn't forgot I'm posting this on multiple sites or anything omo  
(I did sorry y'all.)

Anyhow... I have a week to write the next chapter .m.  
What have I done by deciding to do a halloween chapter...

Reviews/Comments are appreciated!  
Hope y'all have a wonderful week~


	5. Halloween Special

~8 months ago~

~Frisk~

"Frisk? Are you ready for school?" Mom called, knocking on my door.  
"Yes ma'am!" I called back, slipping my sweater on.  
I grabbed my backpack, and headed out to the front door, swinging my arms as I did so.  
"What has got you so excited today, my child?" Mom asked, settling her scarf around her neck.  
"Well we're goin' back to school, and there's all these leaves on the ground-" I said, opening the door to look at all the orange leaves on the ground.  
"-and I've got a new sweater, everyone's happy, and I'm gonna get to see my friends!" I shouted.  
Mom laughed.  
"Those are certainly things to be happy about." She said, taking my hand as we headed towards our bikes.  
We put our helmets on, and started pedaling down the mountain slope.  
I waved to Undyne - who had her normal tank top and pants on - as we passed by her home.  
"I'll see you later, ya little punk!" She shouted, waving back.  
"See you later!" I called back, sticking my tongue out at her.

She did the same before heading inside.

We finished our ride down the mountain, stopping in the concrete parking lot of the mt. Ebbott elementary school.  
We hopped off our bikes, and set them on one of the racks.  
"Shall I see you at lunch, my child?"  
I nodded, clipping my helmet to my bike.  
"Love you mom!" I said, waving to her as I left.  
"I love you too, Frisk!"

Pulling my sleeves back down over my hands, I walked into my first class of the day.  
My least favorite, but one I had to get through anyway.  
"Good morning, Frisk. Early as usual." Mrs. Helen said, straitening the stack of papers on her desk.  
"Good morning, Mrs. Helen." I chirruped, moving over to my chair.

"Yo! Mornin' Frisk!" MK said, waving his tail in greeting.  
I waved back, taking my seat beside him.  
*Where's Dogi?* I signed.  
"I think she's sick, dude? Or maybe she had a stick hit her face, I just remember something ending in 'ick'."  
"Aww." I grumbled, setting my bag under my desk.  
The rest of the class started trickling in, meaning mk and I had to be quiet.  
Dogi and I could talk using sign language, but MK.. Mk didn't have hands, so no sign language.  
"Now children, pull your spelling journals out..."

"Buh, I'm glad that's over." MK said, tightening the strap on his backpack.  
*She's not so bad. At least she hasn't tried to kill me like our gym teacher has.* I signed, smiling.  
"Yeah! That's right."  
We continued down the hall way to our next class, chatting and laughing.

After several more classes – only one of which I enjoyed – lunch finally rolled around.  
MK zipped off to go get his lunch, while I headed over to where Mom was sitting.  
"Good afternoon, Frisk." She smiled, patting the bench beside her.  
"How has your day been so far, my child?" She asked.  
*It's been good! Dogi's not here though.* I signed, sitting down.  
"I noticed she was not in my class. Did Mika say anything about it?"  
"MK said that she's either sick or a stick hit her face." I said before taking a bite out of my cream cheese-and-cucumber sandwich.  
"Oh dear. I do hope she's okay." Mom said, her brow furrowing in worry.  
"I'm sure she is Mom. Dogi's tough." I said.

After a few more classes – Monster History with mom, Grammar with Ms. Temmie, and of course, gym with my favorite fish, Undyne.  
She was our substitute teacher for now, as the old gym teacher had broken his leg and wasn't able to come in just yet.  
I didn't want her to leave, and I didn't think any of the other kids wanted her to leave either.  
She was up to being able to bench press eight of us now, and all of us were rooting for nine.

We got home after gym class, walking our bikes back with Undyne.  
Sometimes she came back with us, other times she had to stay behind with students who hadn't completed the requirements just yet.  
"Undyne, are you not cold?"  
Mom asked.  
Undyne was still wearing the same tank top and pants she almost always wore.  
"Hm? Nah, I'm fine. Snowdin was TWICE as cold as here and I could've run around in my sk- ahem, run around in my shorts."  
"Oh my."  
"Alphys won't take her sweater off though. I think she's about ready to put a second one on, ufufufu!"  
Undyne cackled.  
"How come you're cold though? You've got a big fur coat on."  
Mom laughed.  
"It's not quite as thick as you might think. And, the wind still gets under it." She smiled.  
"What about you, kid? You cold?"  
I shook my head. "I've got my sweater." I said, using my free hand to tug on the end.  
Sure, it was a little thin in places, but it was enough that I wasn't going to get rid of it.

We finished our walk home, parting ways with Undyne at her house.

We set our bikes at the edge of the house, Mom's hand wrapped warmly around mine.  
"Would you like some cocoa?" She asked as we took our gloves and scarves off.  
"Yes please!"  
"Go ahead and put your backpack up, and I'll start on that."  
I nodded, and ran to my room to hang it up.  
I took a moment to fish my homework out – I'd need to do that later – and toss it on my desk before heading back out to the kitchen.  
"My child, could you bring me the milk?" Mom asked, turning away from the pot for a moment.  
"Yes ma'am!" I chirped, pulling the jug out of the fridge.  
"So did you and Mika decide what you want to go as for Halloween?" She asked, stirring the cocoa.  
"Well, Monster Kid wants to go as Papyrus...I'm not sure what I want to be."  
I said, sitting down at the table.  
Mom set a mug of piping hot cocoa in front of me, and sat down with her own.  
"Well, we _do_ still have a week. Hm... perhaps someone from your favorite book? Fantastic Mr. Fox?"  
"hmm... that would be fun."  
"Would it? I may have some fabric somewhere, and we could borrow some makeup from Alphys and Undyne."  
"Yeah!"  
"Have you three figured out your route as well?"  
"Mostly? We know which houses we want to avoid anyway."  
"Ms. Black?"  
"Yes ma'am. One of them anyway." I said, taking a sip of my cocoa.  
It was warm and chocolaty, with a hint of cinnamon.

The rest of the week passed fairly quickly, with only a few teacher problems.  
Halloween was luckily on a Friday this year, so we didn't have to worry about going to bed early.  
Mom had opted to stay at home and pass candy out, so Papyrus would be chaperoning us.  
Needless to say, Papyrus was excited about it.

"Now, you three be good, alright?" Mom said, readjusting the polka dot tie around my neck.  
"Yes ma'am!" We all chimed.  
Someone knocked on the door, and I scrambled to go open it.  
"IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH! GREETINGS FRISK, I HAVE COME TO TAKE YOU OUT FOR A NIGHT OF 'TRICK-OR-TREATING'!"  
"Alright!" Monster Kid yelled.  
"Listen to Mr. Papyrus now! Don't go running off into the street, and be sure not to follow any strangers!" Mom said as we left the house.  
"We will mom!" "Yes ma'am!" "I WON'T LET THEM COME TO ANY HARM, MS. TORIEL!" Papyrus shouted, giving a sweeping bow.  
We had managed to get him to stop calling Mom 'asgore's clone', but he still treated her like it.  
"Yo! Let's go, we still gotta meet up with everyone else!" Monster Kid shouted, halfway out of Mom's garden.  
"Hang on MK! We GOTTA WAIT FOR PAPYRUS!" Dogi shouted as MK's tail disappeared around the corner.  
She started running after him, shouting for him to stop.  
"WELL FRISK, ARE YOU READY TO GO?" Papyrus asked me, picking me up and setting me on his shoulders.  
"Yeah! Let's go!" I shouted, excited as well.

Our first stop was Alphys and Undyne's house.  
Dogi knocked on the door, and it was quickly opened.  
"Trick-or-treat!" we yelled.  
"Hey there short stuff. Are we the first house you've hit?" Undyne grinned.  
A pair of horns sat on her head, along with a tiny pair of wings on her back. It took me a moment to realize that she was a dragon.  
"Yeah!" Dogi barked.  
"Hmm, so lets see... we've got a little butterfly here, a... fox? An- wait. Two Papyruses?!" She said, giving a fake gasp.  
"w-what's going on?" Alphys asked, her armor clad head popping out from behind the door frame.  
"There's _two_ papyruses out here." Undyne said, gesturing to MK and Paps.  
"o-oh dear..." Alphys looked like she was trying not to laugh. "s-seems like that might be a problem..."  
"Right?!"  
"r- Oh crap! I left the candy in the kitchen, I'll go get it, I'm so-" Alphys sped away, the armor she wore clinking.  
She came back a few moments later, clutching the bowl in her hands.  
"H-here we go! I left it in the kitchen, sorry..." The lizard said nervously, holding it out.  
With shouts of "Thank you very much!" we each took a few pieces.  
"Alright, you dorks better get going, or everyone else will get all the candy!" Undyne said, reaching down to ruffle my hair.  
"Thank you!" We all called again as we headed down the pathway.  
"Babe, you've gotta stop apologizing for everything." I heard Undyne say. "sor-" " _shhh no apologizing."_

Eventually we headed into town.  
We went to the monster neighbor hoods first, which had a lot of other kids in it, human and monster a like.  
Most of the chaperoning human parents looked nervous, like they were afraid someone would attack them.  
The kids didn't seem to have a worry in the world, though.

It all went well for a while; We were slowed down by Dogi's parents, Dogamy and Dogaressa ("There's our puppy!" "and her strange smelling friends.") for a bit, but we got back on track fairly quickly.  
"HUMAN! WHICH WAY IS IT TO THE HUMAN NEIGHBORHOODS?" Papyrus asked after we finished another row of houses.  
"That a'way!" MK shouted, rushing forward again, his candy bag trailing behind him.  
"Frisk."  
"Yeah."  
"MK's gonna get himself killed."  
"Yup."

We made our way into the human neighborhoods, _trying_ to avoid the homes we thought belonged to our teachers. We only knew where Ms. Black lived, so we could avoid her.  
While some weren't bad, we just figured it would be easier to avoid all of them.

"Dogi, do you want to knock next?" MK asked.  
"Don't mind if I do." She said.  
She darted forward, the gossamer wings on her back bouncing up and down.  
She rang the door bell and then hopped back, tail wagging furiously.  
"Trick-or-treat!" We chimed. A few more kids bunched up behind us, monster and human alike.  
A woman answered the door; Her smile faded momentarily before screwing back up to what it was.  
"Well well, what do we have here? We've got a butterfly, uhm... a _knight_ , a space man, Ooohh look at you, are you a kitty? And uh..." She turned to me. "Are you...?"  
"I'm Mr. Fox!" I said, tossing my hands out to show off the waistcoat Mom had expertly made.  
"er well.. why not Ms. Fox?" "Because _I_ like Mr. Fox."  
"Mom, just give the kids their candy, you don't have to interrogate everyone about their costume. It's creepy." A teenager said, coming up behind her.  
She had a pair of cat ears perched on her head, which flopped around as she took the bowl from her parent.  
"Mom, go watch _The Nightmare before Christmas_ or something. You're banished from candy distributing."  
"Su-"  
"No! Go, now!" She said, fluttering her free hand at her Mom.  
Her mom threw her hands up in defeat, heading back into the house.  
"I'm sorry about that, she's been heckling _everyone_ who she doesn't think 'has a proper costume'. Take as much as you want, I don't care." She said, tilting the bowl towards us.

"Mr. Papyrus, what time is it?" Dogi asked, tugging on his scarf.  
"HMMM... LET ME CHECK." He said, pulling his phone out.  
"IT IS EIGHT THIRTY EXACTLY! TIME FOR US ALL TO START HEADING HOME! NYEH!" "nyeh!"  
We started walking back, looking through our bags excitedly.  
Most of the younger kids had gone home, leaving the neighborhood filled with older teenagers.

"There's no way my mom is gonna let me keep all this." MK said, laughing.  
"I'm gonna bury mine in the back."  
"Ew, it's gonna get dirty!"  
"But that's the best flavor! Why do you think you bury a bone before eating it?"  
None of us really noticed as a woman rushed up to us.  
"Excuse me." She said to Papyrus.  
"Would you mind coming with me for a moment?" She said, glaring back at a house behind her.  
"WELL... I SUPPOSE IF IT DOES NOT TAKE TOO LONG! THE GREAT PAPYRUS DID SAY THAT HE WOULD RETURN THE CHILDREN TO THEIR HOMES AT NINE!"

"Great great, this won't take more than five minutes." She said, grabbing Papyrus's arm and dragging him over to the house.  
"It THAT." She said, pointing to a plastic skeleton sitting on the porch. "not offensive? C'mon Jeff, take it down."  
"I'll take it down when someone ELSE complains." The man at the door said, crossing his arms.  
"I mean really, you said that my _dog_ was offending the Dog monsters. I don't see them complaining. Sir, is this _decoration_ offensive to you?" Jeff said, shaking his head.  
"CERTAINLY NOT, HUMAN! THIS IS A PLASTIC SKELETON, NOT A MONSTER SKELETON!"  
Papyrus said.  
"See Sandra? There's no need to get up in arms about _every frigging thing._ "  
Sandra growled before stomping off.  
"Geez, I'm sorry about that. Sandra's _always_ going off about something. C'mere, you guys can have the rest of the candy I've got."  
"Bu-"  
"Nah, We're shutting the light off anyway. Heading out to go see a movie, so we don't need it."  
"WOWIE!"

We split the candy evenly, and then started back home again.  
"That was... weird." Dogi commented, sticking a Spider Byte in her mouth.  
"People are weird." I said.  
Honestly, as an ambassador, that stuff wasn't as unusual as I had hoped.  
People liked to ask me about the weirdest stuff.  
'is my dog a Dog Monster? Will I have to let him go?!'

That wasn't even my job.

We dropped Dogi off at her home first ("there she is!" "sweet little girl!"), and then MK, who was falling asleep on his feet ("Hey champ, did you have fun?"), before turning up the pathway up Mt. Ebott.  
"WOWIE! THAT WAS FUN! I AM SAD THAT SANS DIDN'T COME THOUGH. I SUPPOSE SOMEONE HAD TO STAY TO HANDOUT CANDY THOUGH! AND WHO WOULD BE BETTER TO ESCORT YOU THAN MYSELF?"  
Papyrus said.  
It wasn't long until we got back to home.  
Mom was handing out candy to a group of older kids, who left as we approached the house.  
"Hey dude, look, it's a skeleton." "Yeah, like at that other house."  
Two of them whispered excitedly.  
"Hello my child." Mom said warmly, crouching down to give me a hug.  
"Did you have a good time?"  
"I did!"  
Mom picked me up, holding me close.  
"Thank you for taking Frisk out Papyrus." Mom said, smiling at him.  
"IT IS NOT A PROBLEM YOUR MAJESTY! NOW, I MUST GET BACK TO MY BROTHER! I AM SURE HE MISSES ME, AND I AM SURE THE REMAINING TRICK-OR-TREATERS WOULD WELCOME SOME OF MY SPHAGETTI!" He shouted, rushing away.  
Mom and I giggled.  
"He is rather silly, is he not?"  
"Yeah!"

* * *

A/N

WHOOO!  
This is a super long chapter for y'all, because apparently I like Halloween specials :P

So there were a few things I had intended to get in here, but I couldn't fit them in without it feeling forced :T  
So just a few explanations:  
Alphys is a Knight and Undyne is a Dragon because dragons carry knights off lol  
The reason sans (purposely) stayed behind was because otherwise Papyrus would've given everyone spaghetti lol  
"Why is this chapter twice as long as the others?" I write more about things I'm excited about, so guess I was excited about this lol

Next week will be back to the normal schedule!  
Reviews are appreciated!


	6. School

Dad walked me back over to Mom's house soon after we finished breakfast.  
"Be sure you mind your mother today, okay?"  
"Yes sir."  
"I'll see you later tonight." He said, smiling as he ruffling my hair.  
I knocked on the door as Dad waited.  
Mom answered a moment later; she looked tired.  
"Oh, good morning Asriel. ...Morning, _Dreemurr."_  
"Good Morning Toriel." Dad said, waving as he left.  
"Well now; Are you ready to head off to school?"  
I nodded.  
She wrapped her hand around mine, and we started down the mountain.  
"I am sure you will enjoy school. Dogi and Mika are enrolled there, as are a lot of other children I'm sure you'll be friends with."  
She said as we passed by some houses.  
"We shall have to take you to see the rest of the family as well." She smiled.

We finished our walk to the School, which looked nothing like I was expecting.  
Frisk had talked to me about it a few times, but mostly in passing and complaints about jerky teachers.  
It was... different than I had been expecting.  
I had pictured something dark and gloomy, with high castle-y walls.  
Instead, it looked like a big house.  
Mom led me inside the big doors, into the enormous halls.  
"I told Frisk's teachers yesterday that she would not be coming in today, and that you would be staying with me."  
She said, smiling at me.

She led me to a room and invited me in.  
It was about as big as the first room in the ruins, and the walls were lined with artwork.  
"Any seat is fine Asriel." She said.  
There was only one seat occupied, so I sat down near the front near Mom.  
Mom sat down at her desk, pulling a few books out of her bag.  
A few more kids trickled in slowly, eventually filling up most of the seats in the room.  
"Good morning Children."  
"Good morning Ms. Toriel." Everyone else piped.  
"Does everyone have last week's homework?" Mom asked.  
"Yes Ma'am."  
"Yes Ms. Toriel."  
Mom stood up and started heading to everyone's desks.  
Everyone handed her a couple sheets of paper, except for one human girl.  
Sheepishly, she raised her hands and apologized.  
"My cat thought it was a toy, I guess. He shredded it." She said.  
"Sounds like an excuse to me..." A boy next to her said quietly.  
Without missing a beat, the girl reached into her bag and then placed a few shreds of paper down.  
"Checkmate, Liam."  
I looked around the room as Mom laughed.  
All of the monster children were wearing striped shirts, but only a few of the humans were, which struck me as odd.  
Maybe they were really small adults?  
"Psst, hey."  
I looked up as someone tapped on my shoulder.  
"Hey kid; I don't think I've seen you here before. Is Ms. Toriel your mom?" The human boy asked.  
"Yes."  
"That must be rough, hehe. There's no chance you'd be able to put off any homework. I'm Josh, by the way." He said.

"Asriel." I replied.  
"Cool. So if you're a goat monster, why don't you have horns?" He asked, looking away as Mom passed by.  
"I'm... a kid?" I said, confused. My horns weren't likely to grow in for another few years.  
"Kid, ha. Sorry, I just kinda assumed you were like, born with them or something?"

"Nope."  
"Now, my children, who remembers where we left off?" Mom asked from her desk.

The day crawled by slowly.  
The only constants in the room were me and Mom.

Some classes had a lot of monsters, but most of them had a lot of humans.  
"Now, children, Who can tell me who Asmier the Just was?" She said, clapping her hands together.  
The girl next to me shot her hand up.  
"Asmier the Just was the fifth king in the Dreemurr Dynasty, and he was the guy in charge when The War broke out."  
"Very good Valerie!"  
Mom picked up her piece of chalk up and wrote "Asmier the Just – Fifth King of the Dreemurr Line" on the blackboard.  
"Now, Asmier _was_ the king in charge when the Humans declared war on the monsters. He had tried for as long as he could to keep the peace, but the Humans were determined to... send us away." Mom said.  
"He was the first person on the front lines, and always the last one back.  
He was called 'the Just' because he made his rules fair, and always took the time to ensure he knew everything about the trial he was judging. This earned him his name."  
Someone behind me asked a question, but I wasn't really paying attention.  
I'd heard this five times today, so I was just scribbling on a sheet of paper.  
I doodled a stick-figure Undyne jabbing a wall, and my Mom and Dad holding hands in the corner.  
"Because unfortunately Tia, my Ex-husband is very bad at naming things. Which is why our lands are currently called 'New Home'."  
"Oh."  
I added a doodle of what I thought my Grandpa could've looked like to my sheet.

"I talked with the principal, and we came up with a schedule for you. You can start it when ever you like."  
"Thanks mom."  
School had just let out; Mom had collected her stack of papers, and we were heading back to home.  
"Yo, Ms. Toriel!"  
Mom stopped as a Fish-Monster ran to catch up to us.  
"Any sign of Frisk?" She asked, stopping in front of Mom.  
I snuck behind Mom as I realized _just_ who it was.  
Undyne, captain of the royal guard, and one of my favorite people to torment when I had been a flower.  
Mom sighed.  
"I am afraid not. It is... concerning, to say the least. We are going to go looking for her again this afternoon. And, before I forget;"  
Mom moved away from me and crouched down, setting her hand on my shoulder.  
"Undyne, this is my son, Asriel."  
"Alphys' mentioned something about that. Hey Asriel. You haven't seen Frisk around, have you? She's about yay high, brown hair, dorky smile?" Undyne asked.  
I shook my head, scooting back behind Mom.  
"I suppose it was a long shot."  
"Anyhow... I am planning on heading out this afternoon to join the search. I would rather not take Asirel with me, as if there is something out there snatching children... Would you or Alphys be willing to watch him for the afternoon?"  
"I'll have to ask Alphys, but I'm sure we could arrange something." She said.  
"You have my number, so feel free to call at any time."  
Undyne nodded before zipping away. 

No sooner than we had gotten home than Mom's cell phone rang.  
While she answered it, I went and set my sheets of paper on Frisk's desk before heading back out to the living room.  
"Asriel, Alphys has agreed to watch you for the afternoon. I... would take you with me, but... I do not know what I would do if I lost you again..."  
Mom whispered the last half, tucking her mouth behind the sleeve of her dress.  
Taking a deep breath, she spoke again.  
"Well, is there anything you would like to take to Undyne and Alphys' home? Perhaps some art supplies?"  
She smiled.  
"Frisk and I have built up quite a lot of them, in this drawer over here."

Clutching the pack of crayons, I waited as Mom knocked on Alphys' door.  
It took a minute before anyone answered.  
A very tired looking Alphys opened it, wearing a stained lab coat and holding a half-full mug of what smelled like coffee.  
"O-oh! I w-was expecting s-someone e-else, sorry..." she laughed nervously.  
"C-come o-on in! U-undyne's already left t-to go look for Frisk..."  
"Thank you for watching Asriel on such short notice Alphys. I'm not sure what I would have done if you weren't available."  
The two of them said goodbye, and then Alphys turned to me.  
"W-well.. Is t-there something y-you'd like to do? Frisk h-has some g-games she keeps here..."  
She said as she led me inside.  
With a huge yawn, she set her coffee mug on a side table.  
"t-there's been s-some late nights at the l-lab the past f-few days, so if sorry if I d-drift off..."  
She said, rubbing the back of her neck.  
"It's okay." I replied, setting my box of crayons on the table.  
Her home was... mildly disorganized, with numerous knick-knacks littered around  
"S-so uh... I d-don't t-think we've met b-before?"  
"Uh... no. Nope. Never." I nervously picked at my shirt sleeve.  
In this timeline we really hadn't for more than a fleeting moment.  
"O-oh..."

* * *

 **Ahhh I'm sorry about this being so short y'all!**  
 **And about missing last week's update.**  
 **The Tl;dr version is that I had to give up my pupper and I was a shitty mess for the next week after.**  
 **I didn't really do much beyond drawing then :T**

 **Anyway, this is really short bc if it wasn't it would be a whole other week for the chapter .w.**

 **Reviews help me keep this story going! I really enjoy hearing feedback, and it makes me feel better about my writing in general.  
you don't have to leave a review, but they do help~**

 **Edit:: Added another section/**


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